Conservatives Warn Southern Border Leaves America As Vulnerable As Israel

As violent conflict continues between Israel and Palestine-based Hamas, conservatives in the U.S. are warning that open-borders policies and the leftist weaponization of defense and law enforcement institutions are leaving America vulnerable to similar attacks.

In an interview on Monday, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cautioned, “We should wake up ourselves. We could have the same thing happen next week to us.” He added, “We caught more people on the terrorist watchlist in February than we caught in the entire administration. We could have cells sitting inside of America right now. … Your intel is never perfect, and we’ve got a wide-open border. They’re coming from 160 different countries.”

Former President Donald Trump said much the same, posting on social media, “The same people that raided Israel are pouring into our once beautiful USA, through our TOTALLY OPEN SOUTHERN BORDER, at Record Numbers. Are they planning an attack within our Country?” 

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) echoed that statement, saying, “Thanks to Biden’s open borders there’s been hundreds cross into the US that we know were on terrorist watch lists. Millions of military aged males have poured across our borders. Not refugees with women and children, and not just from Central/ S. America. We must immediately shutdown our borders!”

Pointing to the violence in the Middle East, Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called on the U.S. to “immediately shut down America’s wide-open southern border to ensure we are in a position to better protect Americans here at home from these real threats.” 

Delivering a speech in Iowa on Monday night, DeSantis continued to point to the vulnerability created by Biden’s open border, asking, “Do you think our enemies, knowing that we have an open border, are not taking advantage of that? … There’s going to be a terrorist attack in this country that we’re going to be able to trace back to the southern border.”

Adding to the concern, a new Homeland Security report warns that Border Patrol agents have caught more than 24,000 migrants from China crossing illegally into the U.S. this fiscal year — including 11,000 just since June. That’s a 1,115% increase from FY 2021 when American officials encountered 1,987 from the communist country. 

Appearing on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” on Monday night, Family Research Council’s Executive Vice President Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William G. Boykin was asked if the U.S. may find itself in a similar position as Israel given the unprotected southern border. Boykin answered, “I think the answer to that is … an unequivocal yes. That same kind of thing could happen to America.” 

He added, “If we don’t make some very clear decisions in terms of what we are going to do in our military as well as our intelligence services, and that includes the FBI, we’re going to see the same thing. … They’re still out there. They still want to destroy us.” When asked if the southern border made America vulnerable to terrorist attacks, Boykin noted that radical jihadist terrorist groups don’t just want to destroy Israel but to “unite” across the world, adding, “Again, we’ve got to wake up and understand that we could be next.”

Customs and Border Protection has encountered over 7 million illegal aliens since January 2021 who have poured across President Joe Biden’s open border. This does not include the more than 1.5 million known “gotaways” who evaded the Border Patrol.

At least 172 migrants that Customs and Border Protection has apprehended between ports of entry matched those on the terrorist watchlist during fiscal year 2023. This compares to three in 2020. That’s an increase of over 5,000%.

On Monday, it was reported that at least two Iranian nationals on the watchlist had been apprehended in the first two weeks of October. So concerning is the threat of terrorists entering the United States that the president of Guatemala is highlighting the dangers posed by inaction to secure the border. And yet, the Biden administration has continued to ignore the crisis.

In fact, just two days before the attack on Israel, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas released a statement reaffirming the administration’s opposition to border walls. Since the attack on Israel, there has been no indication of a change in course from the Biden administration.

As the administration has continued down its path of unlimited illegal immigration, the door has been wide open for the terrorists to come in and broaden their operations in the U.S. Charles Marino, former senior law enforcement advisor at DHS, alerted members of Congress that terrorist groups “can and will exploit our open borders with help of the Mexican cartels.” If you thought the border crisis couldn’t get any worse, … it can.

Strong steps must be taken to ensure that those who would do harm to the United States are no longer able to freely enter the country and that those who may already be here are removed. Failure to act to keep Americans safe represents not only a dereliction of duty by those in power but a dereliction of common sense.

The reprehensible attack carried out by Hamas began with an incursion across a border Israelis assumed was secure. As Americans stand with their families, friends, and allies in Israel as the Jewish state responds to the massacre, Americans must question those in power about what is being done to secure our own borders and ensure that anyone who would threaten American lives cannot freely pass into, or remain in, the country.

We know how to do it. Now, more than ever, it is imperative to national security that America secure its borders.

Originally published at The Washington Stand - reposted with permission.